The Long and Winding Road
by Timballisto
Summary: Sakura has the resolve to fufill her promise; she is the killer of Uchiha Sasuke. However, the path she's chosen is a lonely one and devoid of the very reason she chose to kill in the first place; Uzumaki Naruto. /NaruSaku\ Shot one-shot length chapters
1. Chapter 1

I've always like to think that Sakura had more steel; it always bothered me that she chickened out of killing Sasuke. It would have totally turned her character around- she wouldn't be bitchy, she'd stop doubting herself and maybe she'd have more self-confidence.

On the flip-side, Naruto might not take to kindly to it... so this is my interpretation of it. It will be multi-chaptered. It's Sakura-centric, mostly, with Naruto popping in occaisionally. There may be slight NaruSaku...

* * *

Sakura kept her chakra closed around her like a blanket- so tightly compressed that not even the chakra that lived in every human being could be detected. To the senses, she didn't exist.

She didn't exist.

Down below, she could see Kakashi crouched on the floor, recovering from using his Sharingan. He was shuddering from exhaustion and from grief- from having to kill the boy he had imparted all of his wisdom to, the man whose kin he owed his life to, his own protégé…

Sakura's resolve steeled and she pushed herself forward, ignoring the subtle warnings that Kakashi was giving him with his wide, grey eyes.

She could almost hear him screaming at her to stay out of the fight, to stay safe, to let Sasuke's blood be on _his _hands… she was tired of being protected.

It was time she protected someone for a change, even if it meant killing Sasuke. She… she couldn't sacrifice her happiness and her precious people for the boy who had ran away from Konoha when she was twelve. That boy was dead, sucked dry by Orochimaru, and this man… this man deserved a slow death.

Her fist tightened.

The only thing she would give him was a quick kill.

She dropped from the ceiling like a shadow, her chakra flaring slightly as it released, landing silently right behind the surprised Sasuke. Blood from his eyes kept him from reacting- he was a split second too slow.

All she needed was a split second.

Her punch went clean through his body, her chakra-laden fist having been spearheaded by a refined blade of medical chakra. She felt his spine shatter, his organs liquefy, and his hearts stutter to a stop, all in the space it took for a breath.

His jaw flapped open, part astonishment part death, and she knew his eyes, onyx, arrogant to the last, had gone misty with death. His legs buckled as his body grew limp and he slid to the floor. Sakura let his corpse slip off her arm with the sound of wet suction. Her glove was stained dark maroon and she was coated in blood up to her forearm.

She felt so tired…

"SASUKE!"

She looked blearily back the way she had come, and blinked slowly as she saw the orange, blonde, yellow, and red. Naruto.

His eyes, his impossibly pained eyes, widened at the sight of his best friend lying on the ground, dead. Sakura's heart clenched and she felt her lungs hitch. His face was a mask of despair, a grief so profound she felt her numbness recede a little, and touched an inkling of his pain.

She shrank back.

"C-chidori?" Naruto turned to Kakashi, his blue eyes expectant and readied. He was braced for the news, he had prepared himself for Kakashi to tell him he had ended Sasuke's life. She could tell he would hurt, but could accept that from Kakashi.

But Kakashi hadn't killed Sasuke, she had. No amount of her love would erase that fact, and she knew it would haunt them forever.

Her eyes fell to the ground.

She wondered idly if she was doomed to unrequited love, and stoically shored up her defenses. The storm as not long in coming.

"No." Kakashi shook his head, leaning heavily on the stalwart blond. "Not… Chidori. Sakura."

Sakura could see it, in the subtle tensing of his shoulders and blank surprise that he'd never have imagined it in a million years. Even if it was unconscious, Sakura knew he'd already discounted her as being too weak to kill the Uchiha- the crush of her younger years.

"Sakura…?" Naruto asked in a whisper, his shock palpable and haunting. He took in her blood-soaked arm and spattered face and clothes. "You… you killed him?"

Sakura closed her eyes, savoring what she knew would probably be the last comfortable moment between them before nodding.

Sakura hears his sharp intake of breath, his hiss of disbelief before walls came slamming up, and he tensed. She feels it, then, the undeniable feeling of chill creeping between them, separated by Sasuke's cooling body and a pool of blood, and knows that nothing will ever be the same again.

Her eyes are hooded, jaded by death, and she turns away from the second man she gave her heart to, standing over the broken body of the first. Irony, saturating the air, presses on her throat.

She turned away, eyes hardened. "Kakashi-sensei," her voice is steady. "Orders?"

Kakashi swayed, before steadying. "Sakura, Naruto." His voice was calm and measured. "We retreat. Our mission was… accomplished." Only the slight pause in his words reminds them of Sasuke, still face down on the floor.

"Hai, sensei." Sakura mumbled, turned to pick up Sasuke's limp body-

"Don't touch him!" Naruto snapped; his eyes were hard as flint as he stepped between Sakura and Sasuke's remains. He is wearing his most serious face, the face he reserves for his most dangerous of enemies. "You lost that privilege when you put your fist through his chest." His voice is sharp, and Sakura can hear the slight double timbre of the Kyuubi growling in his chest.

Sakura recoiled, almost as if she'd been slapped. Her face cycled through her emotions; hurt, pain, regret, sadness… and then resolve. The type of resolve that had gotten her through the Forest of Death, had forced her to survive Tsunade's teaching, and would get her through Sasuke's death.

"Funny," she said softly as she moved to Kakashi's side to heal his electrical burns. She didn't know what moved her to say this, but she knew it came from the fragile –crushed- part of her heart that had spawned her infatuation for Sasuke and her love for Naruto, a part that was crying for retaliation. "I don't recall you revoking those rights when _Sasuke _put a hole through you." Her eyes glittered through her lashes. Despair gaped like a pit. Sasuke; gone. Naruto; going- she was all alone.

Again.

Naruto's face tightened and he turned away, bending to carefully place the other man across his shoulder. As if he was still alive.

"Let's go." Naruto's voice was emotionless and flat; and Sakura took it to mean that Naruto, loyal Naruto, had forsaken her.

Why did the people she love hurt her the most?

She sighs, resigned, and turns away, toward home, Naruto close behind. They do not speak.

It is quiet for a long time after.


	2. Chapter 2

I moved the coma wake up point for Tsunade up a chapter. She needed to be awake for this. This will definitely be AU from this point onward. Prepare yourselves.

* * *

The second they hit the towering gates of Konoha, Naruto splits off from Team Seven. He flits over the streets, his sandaled feet barely touching the roofs as he bounds for the Uchiha District, Sasuke still in his arms. He doesn't look back and, even though Sakura hadn't really expected him to, it still hurts.

"Go to the hospital, Kakashi-sensei." She mumbled, turning towards the Hokage tower. "Get those burns fully healed, I'll give the report to Hokage-sama."

Kakashi watched her face closely, his good eye squinting as if he was trying to tell if she was going to have a breakdown. He nodded.

"Alright."

Sakura continued onto the Hokage Tower alone, walking slowly along the streets instead of taking to the rooftops. She doesn't want to hurry- she wasn't that eager to tell her story to Tsunade- but she doesn't want to be late, either.

In the back of Sakura's mind, that little voice that had so often been the speaker of her true thoughts remarked that she seemed too calm to have just killed one of her childhood dreams.

Shouldn't she be crying, or something?

She was actually slightly alarmed by her lack of emotion about killing Sasuke. Didn't she use to tear up if someone even mentioned his name? Hadn't having a conversation with Ino been almost impossible without stepping on the emotional exploding note that Sasuke's name invoked?

Why didn't she feel anything?

"…Sakura?"

"Hmm?" Sakura blinked and looked up. "Shizune?"

The dark haired women frowned. "Sakura, are you alright? You just wandered in here, with such a look on your face…"

Sakura blinked again and looked around. She was in the waiting room to the Hokage's Office. She must've wandered in while her mind was elsewhere.

"Ah, yes." Sakura said softly, smiling a little to reassure the worried lady. "I'm fine. I just need to report to the Hokage…"

Shizune nodded, serious and face grave. "Tsunade's been expecting you- she'll see you right now."

"Thanks Shizune."

Tsunade was seated behind her desk, elbow deep in paperwork when Sakura entered the office, her eyes tired and worn from squinting at the tiny legal print.

"Oh, Sakura," Tsunade blinked, tiredly gesturing towards the seat standing before her desk. "take a seat." She turned back towards her paperwork. Despite the fact that she'd been in a coma, she still felt exhausted every time she moved- she sighed.

"I'll stand, thanks." Sakura declined, her somber tone sending Tsunade's head shooting back up. She unconsciously groped for her sake bottle, taking a harsh swig before fixing her apprentice with eagle eyes.

"Report." Her Hokage's voice came out rough and scratchy, like a vulture's caw.

"The Raikage's response to Konoha's plea for clemancy is irrelevant." Sakura said, her voice flat. "Uchiha Sasuke was killed on the way here; Naruto has taken his body to the Uchiha compound."

Tsunade's eyes widened. She pushed back from her desk, a hand messaging her temple.

"How long?" she asked.

"Less than 48 hours." Sakura said, barely blinking, mechanical.

"Shizune!" Tsunade bellowed, sending her assistant running in, Tonton in hand.

"Yes Tsunade-sama?" Shizune panted, her dark eyes wide with alarm.

"Get an ANBU dissection team down to the Uchiha Compound stat. I don't give a damn if Naruto is weeping over the body- those secrets are too important for Konoha to waste. Especially now."

Shizune blinked. "Who-?"

"Uchiha Sasuke, that's who!"

"Uchiha-"

"Yes! Now go!" Tsunade thundered, smashing her fists on the desk.

Shizune let out a small gasp before she turned and sprinted out the door, Tonton squealing in her arms.

Silence returned to the office. The clock on the wall slowly ticked by, echoing in the silence.

"Continue." Tsunade said, her voice professional.

Sakura took a deep breath. Professionalism was good; she knew what to expect with that.

"Uchiha Sasuke was killed in an encounter with Kakashi Hatake and myself through blunt force trauma to the upper back and spinal cord. The victim's lungs were pierces and his aorta was ruptured by the same strike- his death was instant."

"Kakashi?" Tsunade asked, knowing the answer but wanting Sakura to confirm it herself.

"No."


	3. Chapter 3

_It was dark._

_Sakura blinked as her eyes slowly adjusted, moonlight creeping along the edges of her vision until everything was enveloped in a pale glow._

_She was in her childhood room, sitting up in a bed made up with pale pink sheets. She frowned, confused. She had moved out two years after she made chuunin, why was she back…?_

_The world tilted for a second, making Sakura's head reel; she felt herself slip out of her bed as gravity dragged her from the comforting covers. She plummeted down, down, down, her chakra just beyond her reach as she grasped the air, screaming silently._

_Then, in the space of a gasp, she found herself knee deep in cold snow. Around her, pinnacles of glacial ice rose like monoliths above the bare plain of white- the whiteness of it hurt her eyes._

"_Sakura…"_

_Sakura jumped, whirling around, turquoise eyes wide with fear. She knew that voice, she knew that voice…_

_Sasuke stood, as he had when he was part of Team 7 so long ago, slouching, hands in his pockets. Smirking. He looked as he had before he'd left for Orochimaru- young, eager, and with hands unstained by the blood of innocents._

"_Hello, Sakura." He even sounded the same, his voice young and, though rusty, was filled with amusement. Not empty, not flat, not filled with hatred._

"_Sasuke…" Sakura couldn't help it, and her eyes overfilled with tears of joy and despair at what- might-have-been, and what-would-never-happen. _

_As soon as she spoke his name, something changed. The white world shifted, the skies twisted into darkness and the mountains loomed, ominous._

_Sasuke's smirk twisted, and Sakura's stomach plummeted. He seemed to grow before her eyes- his appearance morphing into what the monster he'd become. He grinned, a smile full of madness, and his eyes pinwheeled red._

"_You had the strength to cut your bonds, Sakura." Sasuke's voice sounded like wet silk over steel as he prowled close. "You became strong."_

_He brandished his arms wide, a gesture so un-Sasuke-like she took a step back. Blood, crimson, flowed from his mouth as he spoke, a never-ending fountain down his chin. Sakura, following the trail of blood down to his chest, trembled as the gaping, open wound _she_ put there bared itself- she could see directly into his ribcage, directly at the weakly beating heart that seemed unnaturally loud in the silence._

_Sakura could hear bile growing in the back of her throat and her stomach roiled in protest. _

"_Isn't this what you wanted?" Sasuke asked, his head cocked quizzically, the evil smirk on his face at odds with his grievous wounds. "I thought you loved me Sakura-_chan._" _

_Sakura watched in horror as he reached inside his own chest cavity and viciously ripped his own heart out. He held it out to her, smiling a smile reminiscent of Sai._

"_Isn't this what you wanted?"_

Sakura woke up with a scream, choking on her own tears as they ran, unbidden, down her face. "It was just a dream" she gasped, stumbling out of her bed. "Just a dream." She staggered into her small bathroom and, with shaking hands, struggled to turn on the tap. "Get a hold of yourself." She mumbled, splashing the cool water on her face, washing away the sweat of her night terrors.

She glanced in the mirror and winced; her face was pale and drawn- dark circles etched themselves beneath her eyes. She hadn't slept properly in three days, ever since she'd returned to the village after… after. She sighed, and closed her eyes, squeezing tight to ward against the large migraine pounding itself against her left temple. Grief pounding along with the headache, bruising her chest with the weight of it; guilt merely added to the load. She had taken Naruto's promise away from him- the promise he had sacrificed for and had pushed himself to the brink of death for and… she'd taken that from him. She had given Sasuke peace but… had she given any to Naruto?


	4. Chapter 4

Kakashi blinked lazily as he lounged on the wooden rail of Team 7's red bridge. He was a mere fifteen minutes late- practically on time- but he was surprised to see that only Sai waited for him.

"Where's Naruto and Sakura?" he asked, carefully keeping his tone light and lazy. He shifted slightly and winced, pain shooting up his arm from where it lay in a sling.

Sai shrugged, turning his head from staring out into space and back at his taicho. "I am not my teammate's keeper." He said flatly, eyebrow raised. "However, Sakura is approaching presently."

"Aa." Kakashi hummed in agreement- he felt Sakura's signature beacon of chakra coming closer.

Within seconds, Sakura had burst out of the trees, bounding along the ground until she lightly landed on the bridge with the barest of sounds. "Sorry I'm late." She said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head in a gesture more familiar to her blonde teammate. "My alarm clock didn't go off."

Kakashi smiled, not believing her for a second. "It happens." He said, letting it slide for now. He'd keep an eye on her- two, if Obito didn't mind- and make sure she was alright. Kakashi could already pick out the wrinkles in her usual sharply pressed chuunin uniform (the standard issue one, Kakashi noted, not her crimson shirt and medical apron), the unkempt strands of hair that frizzed out of her hasty bun. Dark circles were easily visible under her eyes; indicative of less than a good night's sleep.

"Yeah." Sakura mumbled, yawning as she settled back to wait for their blonde teammate. She let her eyelids slide close, dozing.

The minute oozed into hours and the hours squeezed by until it was high to noon- and Naruto still wasn't there.

"Well," Kakashi said, flipping his book closed with a sigh. "I really should have expected this but;" he shrugged. "what can you do?"

Sakura shifted uncomfortably, guilt crawling up her stomach- something told her Naruto would be on time if it wasn't for her. Kakashi fixed her with a languid gaze, pinning her to her spot.

"Something bothering you Sakura?" he asked lazily.

"Uh-"Sakura grinned sheepishly. "Just hungry."

"Is that one of those 'little white lies' you told me about Hatake-taicho?" Sai asked curiously, turning to his superior, curious. "The accepted use of lying to conceal embarrassing or uncomfortable information from friends?" His tone was innocent.

A little too innocent, in Sakura's opinion. She fixed the dark haired boy with a hard glare that he merely smiled at.

"Is there anything you wanted to tell us Sakura?" Kakashi's voice was light, but Sakura could hear the edge to it.

She shook her head mutely.

Kakashi sighed.


End file.
